Knitting machine apparatus employing self-guiding sinkers



Nov. 17,1970 H. AGULNEK 3,540,237

KNITTING MACHINE APPARATUS EMPLOYING SELF-GUIDING SINKERS Filed June 5, 1968 Fig.4 Fig.5.

IN VENTOR.

Harry Agu/ne/r BY ATTORNEY United States Patent O 3,540,237 KNITTING MACHINE APPARATUS EMPLOYING SELF-GUIDING SINKERS Harry Agulnek, Brooklyn, N.Y., assignor to The Singer Company, New York, N.Y., a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 3, 1968, Ser. No. 733,894 Int. Cl. D04b 15/06 US. Cl. 66-107 2 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A circular sinker top knitting machine is disclosed wherein the sinkers thereof are adapted to guide each other by means of differently disposed bosses on such sinkers, such bosses being arranged in an alternating sequence about the circumference of the machine. Such a practice avoids the prior art need for a slotted sinker ring in such knitting machine, and therefore permits of finer gauge knitting apparatus than has heretofore been possible.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This invention relates in general to knitting machines employing sinkers. In particular the invention provides sinkers of an improved type, and which improved type of sinker provides for a knitting machine of better design, and wherein such better designed knitting machine the need for special apparatus for guiding sinkers is obviated.

Description of the prior art Present practice, say in a sinker-top circular knitting machine, is to provide a slotted sinker ring, the slots of which are for the purpose of guiding respective sinkers radially of such machine. The use of a slotted sinker ring in a knitting machine presents a variety of problems, many of which have already been discussed at some length in US. Pat. No. 3,221,521, issued Dec. 7, 1965 and assigned to the present assignee.

With the trend toward finer cut knitting machines, however, still another problem becomes critical, viz. that of cutting a sinker ring with a large number of radial slots per unit of circumferential length of such sinker ring. Sinkers, as is well known, are blade-like, and therefore require support, say by the walls of respective ring guide slots, to assure their proper radial movement. Not only is it difficult and expensive to provide a sinker ring with a large number of radial slots per unit of circumferential length thereof but, also, with a fine cut sinker ring the walls thereof that define the respective sinker guide slots become so wafer thin that they provide virtually none of the necessary sinker support and merely serve as dividers between respective pairs of sinkers.

As a practical matter though, using the usual equipment for cutting the slots of a sinker ring, as is presently used, it is nigh impossible to produce a very fine gauge sinker ring in which none of the slot walls thereof have been ruined by the very equipment that produces such slots.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention completely obviates the need for a slotted sinker ring to provide radial guideways for the sinkers of a circular knitting machine. Rather, the invention indicates that the sinkers themselves, if of a special form, may be employed to guide and support each other.

Generally, in the preferred form of the invention, the sinkers are of two types, some having high bosses, and some having low bosses. That is, looking at a given side of a high-boss sinker, such sinker has a protuberance which is closer to the throat of such sinker than the protuberance of a low-boss sinker would be to its throat looking at such low-boss sinker from that same given side. By alternating the highand low-boss sinkers about the circumference of a knitting machine, which machine has a non-slotted sinker ring, the bosses of the respective sinkers bear against adjacent sinkers whereby, as such sinkers are moved radially to and fro by the sinker cams of such knitting machine, they are continually supported and guided by means of their own, and the protuberances of adjacent sinkers.

A principal object of the invention is to provide improved sinker top knitting machine apparatus.

Another object of the invention is to provide a sinker top knitting machine which does not require a slotted sinker ring for guidedly supporting the sinkers of such machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved form of sinkers.

The invention will be described with reference to the figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a vertical cross sectional view through the cylinder top of a circular knitting machine having the sinker construction and arrangement of the invention,

FIG. 2 is a perspective view partially in section showing the cooperation of adjacent sinkers incorporating the invention,

FIG. 3 is a view of the sinker arrangement of FIG. 1 taken along lines 33 thereof,

FIG. 4 is a view of the sinker arrangement of FIG. 1 taken along line 44 of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a diagrammatic view showing how the present invention may be implemented in a variety of other ways.

Referring to the drawings, a hold-down sinker is indicated generally at 11. The sinker is formed with a body portion 12 having an undersurface 13 which extends across the top of the needle cylinder 14, and a substantially parallel upper web supporting surface 15. A nose 16 projecting over the web-supporting surface 15 forms therewith a throat 17. A shank 18 extending from the body portion 12 is formed with an upstanding butt 19.

The needle cylinder 14, which is formed with evenly spaced vertical needle slots 20 has secured at the top thereof a sinker ring 21 formed with a flat planar sinker supporting surface 22 upon which the undersurfaces 13 of the sinkers bear. The sinker ring 21 is formed with a depending annular flange 23 adapted to locate the sinker ring concentrically atop the needle cylinder. The fiat surface 22 upon which the undersurfaces 13 of the sinkers bear is, to be noted, completely devoid of sinker guiding slots.

The needle cylinder is supported for rotation relative to a machine frame (not shown) and relative to section blocks 24 which sustain various needle raising cams 25 and stitch cams 26 which operate upon needle butts 27 so as to reciprocate latch knitting needles 28 constrained in respective needle slots 20 in the cylinder.

Fixed to the machine frame adjacent to the rotatable needle cylinder is a carrier ring 29 to which is secured a sinker cam ring 30. Beneath the sinker cam ring 30, a slotted sinker rest ring 31 adapted for rotation supports the shanks 18 of the sinkers 11. The sinker rest ring 31 meshes with the needle slots 20 of the needle cylinder in order to lock the sinker rest ring 30 for rotation with the needle cylinder 14. The sinker butts 19 are embraced between a cam shoulder 33, formed on the sinker cam ring 29, and the sinker cam members 34, whereby as the sinkers are rotated with the sinker rest ring 31, the sinker cams 34 cause the sinkers 11 to reciprocate radially relatively to the needle cylinder 14 and the ring 21.

With the present embodiment of the invention, timed interrelated movements are imparted to the needles and sinkers in conventional fashion. When the needles are elevated, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the sinkers adjacent to such needles are shifted radially inwardly so as to constrain in the sinker throats 17 the yarn loops extending between the last formed stitches on the needles, thereby facilitate latch clearance on those needles raised to knit position. On the down stroke of such needles, the adjacent sinkers are shifted radially outwardly so that the yarn fed to the needles may be drawn onto the web supporting surfaces 15 of the sinkers.

The Web supporting surface 15 of each sinker defines a line of reference with respect to which the draw of the adjacent needles determines the stitch length of the knitting in that area of the cloth. Collectively the web supporting surfaces of all the sinkers should define a reference plane if uniform unblemished fabric is to be knit on the machine.

As is indicated the sinkers 11 according to the invention are of two different types, 11H and 11L, the suffixes H and L representing respectively sinkers with high and low bosses 40, 41. In this the presently preferred form of the invention, the bosses 40, 41 are formed by dimpling the respective sinkers by means of a punch, although it should be noted that other forms of protuberances on the respective sinkers may work just as well in, practicing the invention.

With special reference now to FIGS. 3 and 4 it is noted that when, say, a low-boss sinker 11L moves to and fro radially of the knitting machine, its boss 41 rides against the fiat surface 43 of an adjacent high boss sinker 11H while, simultaneously, the boss 40 of another adjacent high-boss sinker 11H rides against the surface 44 of said boss sinker 11L between high-boss sinkers 11H and, similarly, by sandwiching high-boss sinkers 11H between pairs of low-boss sinkers 11L, the sinkers guide themselves in their radial to and fro motion, and such being without need for a prior art slotted sinker ring.

While the presently preferred form of the invention shows alternating arrangements of highand low-boss sinkers, it is clearly within the scope of the invention to employ highand low-, and one or more medium boss sinkers in a variety of arrangements, thereby to avoid the prior art need for a slotted sinker ring as indicated in FIG. 5, sinkers 11.

Having thus set forth the nature of this invention, what is claimed herein is:

1. In a circular knitting machine, a flat planar nonslotted sinker ring, sinkers supported by said ring, at least some of a first kind of said sinkers being provided with at least one high boss apiece, at least some of a second kind of said sinkersbeing provided with at least one low boss apiece, said sinkers being so arranged around said ring that the respective bosses bear against and maintain the spacing between adjacent sinkers.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the high-boss and low-boss sinkers are alternately arranged around said ring.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 670,489 3/1901 Black et al 66-107 XR 739,975 9/1903 Bard 66-108 XR 1,228,085 5/1917 Williams 66-107 1,459,446 6/ 1923 Fenn 66-107 XR 2,076,902 4/1937 Lawson et al 66-108 XR 2,203,711 6/ 1940 Agulnek 66-107 XR 3,221,521 7/1965 Mishcon 66-107 WM. CARTER REYNOLDS, Primary Examiner 

